Let me tell you a story about two producers.
James and Matt.
(I apologize in advance if you are a James or a Matt. Iāll be nice).
Theyāre friends, and theyāve both decided to get into electronic music production at the same time.
James figures that the best way to learn and improve is to really focus on making good music.
So he spends the next 6 months working on one song. Heās trying to learn everything as he goes. Itās hard, but he knows that by the end of it heāll have a masterpiece.
After all, heās the one putting in the hard yards. Really focusing on this one project to make it the best it can be. He canāt wait to one-up Matt.
Matt, on the other hand, happens to come across the EDMProd email newsletter and learns all about the quantity-first approach to learning music production.
He tells James about it, but James laughs and thinks itās a stupid strategy. āDude, quality over quantity is the saying. I think youāve got it mixed up!ā
Matt ignores this and puts his head down.
Instead of aiming for perfection with each song he makes, he instead focuses on learning something new with each project.
He knows that with his current skill level (beginner), heās not going to be making any hits.
So he sets himself a target of one song per week.
And with each one, he gets incrementally better.
With each project finished, his mental maps become slightly more ingrained and slightly stronger.
Now, let me ask you this:
After 6 months, whoās the better producer?
If itās not obvious by now, you haven’t read the last few lessons.
While James is wasting his time trying to create a masterpiece (even though heās never finished a song in his life), Matt is consistently and repeatedly finishing music.
Heās iterating.
And his mental maps are strong, especially compared to James.
Because James has only written one melody. Heās gone through the mixing process once. Heās designed a bass sound once. Heās done everything once.
Matt has done these things over 20 times.
Heās worked through music production problems and solved them. Heās practiced. Heās gained a deep understanding of how everything works.
In this scenario, Matt comes out on top every time.
You want to be Matt, not James.
The question is, how?
If youāre not convinced this is the best approach, you can stop reading this email now.
If you know that itās absolutely the best thing for you, then hereās how to do itā¦Ā
This is not going to work for you if youāre too attached to getting streams, plays, downloads, and followers.
Itās also not going to work if youāre too afraid to make something thatās not perfect.
You need to let go of these things if you want to progress as an artist. You need to be prepared to make some subpar work, because thatās how you learn.
Depending on your schedule, this might look like finishing one song per week, or one song per day.
The shorter you can make the timeline, the better.
Your goal is to finish, not to make something great. Donāt get caught in the ātweaking trapā where you endlessly try to perfect your song.
If youāve watched a tutorial or read a blog post and come across an exciting technique, try it in your next project. Use that project as a learning toolāas practice.
Youāre running a marathon, not a sprint. You do not need to learn everything at once.
There will be a point, probably around the 12-month mark (depending on how much time youāre putting in) where you start to naturally slow down.
You find it harder to finish projects quickly.
This is because your mental maps are developed to the point where you know, with confidence, that you can make the song significantly better given more time.
Itās at this point you should start moving closer to the quality end of the spectrum. Not abandoning quantity, but instead paying a bit more attention to refining, tweaking, and improving (instead of just finishing as quickly as possible).
Now, the quantity-first approach is something you can absolutely do yourself.
You donāt need a course. You donāt need a book. You donāt need YouTube tutorials.
And if anyone tells you otherwise, ignore them.
But if you want to do this in the most efficient way possible, itās worth following a guided framework thatās helped other people (especially if you havenāt finished your first few songs yet).
Our Foundations program takes this quantity-first approach and walks you through the creation of four full songs.
It forces you to develop these mental maps in ALL areas of music productionāquickly and effectively.
If youāre interested, you can learn more here: edmprod.com/edm-foundations
Ā© 2025 EDMProd
Learn how to master the fundamentals of electronic music production with the best roadmap for new producers